June 3, 2021

Meet one Honduran family who escaped a politically-motivated machete attack to seek asylum in the United States. Jewish Family Service of San Diego helped this family prepare for their move from SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services to New York, where their sponsor awaits. According to JFS Border Advocate, Eitan Peled, “What we’re doing is showing people we can both protect public health and afford people the right to seek asylum.”

May 12, 2021

More migrants are being granted humanitarian exceptions because they are considered the most vulnerable, including families with young children and transgender people who had been living in dangerous conditions in Mexican border towns.

May 10, 2021

Sometimes, that means stabilizing people so they’re ready to travel on to a final destination. Kate Clark, Sr. Director of Immigration Services at JFS, shares how we transformed our Migrant Shelter Services during COVID-19.

April 12, 2021

Immigration authorities are working with state and local authorities and non-governmental organizations to ensure that all migrants receive COVID-19 testing before and after entering the U.S. Eitan Peled of Jewish Family Service of San Diego shares more about this process.

March 30, 2021

Direct Relief is supporting health facilities on both sides of the southwestern border including the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services.

March 26, 2021

Jewish Family Service receives families and adults who are coming into the United States from the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program as well as asylum seekers released by Border Patrol into San Diego.

March 6, 2021

Gerson handed the border officer his Honduran passport and placed his fingertips on a small scanner. This was the last hurdle before his family could escape the kidnapping, threats, and extortion they had endured in Mexico while trying to gain asylum in the US. Now, he and hundreds of other asylum-seekers who spent months holding onto a sliver of hope while being forced by the Trump administration to wait in Mexico are entering the US. Kate Clark, the senior director of immigration services at Jewish Family Service of San Diego, said the group has taken in nearly 300 people who were previously stuck in Mexico under the Trump administration policy.

March 3, 2021

Stuck in Mexico for nearly a year under the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, asylum seeker Nicholas was finally able to cross into the United States, thanks to an executive order from President Joe Biden. Featuring an interview with CEO Michael Hopkins.

March 2, 2021

Esperanzas infundadas, siguen llegando inmigrantes a una frontera estadounidense que no se abre; familias separadas en la frontera, una nueva controversia en Estados Unidos; se refuerza la batalla para producir más vacunas para los estadounidenses y el Departamento de Estado emite informe con la clasificación de países que fracasaron en la lucha antidrogas.

February 20, 2021

CEO Michael Hopkins is interviewed in this coverage of the first 25 Latin American asylum seekers who were granted entry at the San Ysidro port of entry and will be allowed to stay in the country for the duration of their proceedings. The Jewish Family Service of San Diego received the asylum applicants, who were required to test negative for the coronavirus, and transported them to a hotel in the area so they could quarantine, according to the non-profit's chief executive officer, Michael Hopkins. The group included six families and five individuals from Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Cuba.

February 19, 2021

Two years and 21 days after the first asylum seeker was walked back from San Diego to Tijuana under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, a small group of asylum seekers was escorted in the other direction to wait out immigration court cases in the United States. CEO Michael Hopkins said, “This is a really different experience than 2½ years ago, when we got the call on our hotline that moms and kids were on the streets of San Diego.”

February 19, 2021

“We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration and we are optimistic that this is the first of many steps to rebuild our immigration system and restore the asylum process,” said JFS and its partners in the San Diego Rapid Response Network.

February 19, 2021

Un grupo de 25 migrantes que cruzaron por la frontera de San Diego y Tijuana estuvieron entre los primeros solicitantes de asilo que se les permitió entrar a Estados Unidos bajo los nuevos cambios de la administración Biden que comenzaron este viernes.

February 19, 2021

At least 25 migrants who have been waiting in Mexico for months while they seek asylum in the U.S. have been allowed into the country, part of the Biden administration efforts to roll back the Trump-era policy known as "Remain in Mexico." CEO Michael Hopkins is interviewed.

February 19, 2021

In this video interview, CEO Michael Hopkins discusses the critical support role Jewish Family Service is playing in welcoming asylum-seekers into San Diego before they take a plane or bus to their final destinations in the U.S.

February 19, 2021

A group of 25 asylum seekers was allowed into the United States on Friday, a United Nations official said, the start of efforts to unwind one of former President Donald Trump’s most restrictive immigration policies, which forced thousands to wait in Mexico for their U.S. cases to be heard. Jewish Family Service will provide services to the migrants once they are in the U.S.

February 19, 2021

CEO Michael Hopkins speaks on behalf of Jewish Family Service’s efforts as part of the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) to provide services for many more asylum seekers as the numbers start to increase.

February 19, 2021

Biden administration officials had stressed in English and Spanish communications that only people contacted ahead of time would be allowed in Friday while others needed to register online and wait. A San Diego aid group working with the returning migrants said they received a total of 25 people Friday.

February 19, 2021

Once migrants crossed the border, organizations in the region took over, including Jewish Family Service, a non-profit organization that works with migrants and has a leading role in the effort. The asylum seekers who arrived Friday were transported to a hotel in San Diego where they'll quarantine for a period before relocating, said Michael Hopkins, CEO of Jewish Family Service of San Diego.

February 9, 2021

Since January, hundreds of migrant families seeking asylum have found themselves north of the border after being released by Border Patrol agents. JFS is leading the response in San Diego, together with our partners at the San Diego Rapid Response Network. Interview with JFS Border Service Advocate, Eitan Peled.